Jerome Wetzel is the Chief Television Critic for Seat42F and a regular contributing reviewer on Blogcritics. He also appears on The Good, The Bad, and the Geeky podcast and Let's Talk TV With Barbara Barnett.

Amazon Contextual Product Ads

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

PSYCH Sings For Its Supper

USA’s PSYCH has been off the air for far
too long, and returns this weekend with “Psych the Musical.” In the two
hour special, Shawn (James Roday) and the others attempt to bring to
justice an escaped mental patient named Z (Anthony Rapp, Rent) who has a
grudge against a certain theater company. An old foe returns to help,
and demands singing and dancing as her price for information. Is all as
it seems?

NOTICE: What follows contains some plot
spoilers. I won’t ruin anything too big or what happens at the end (so
nothing much more revealing than what’s already on IMDB), but if you’d
rather not know anything ahead of time, you may want to wait to read
this.

The biggest foe in PSYCH’s past is Yang
(Ally Sheedy), the serial killer with a personal interest in Shawn. She
is brought back out for “Psych the Musical,” allowing her to participate
in a big episode. I feel like this is a pretty appropriate use of her.
She should only return sparingly and with effect, and although she is
not exactly the center of this story, she still plays a sizeable role,
making her appearance worth it.

Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson) also comes
back, but since he died during his last guest spot, I won’t go any
further than to say he sings well and is brought in through a creative
twist most should appreciate.

The premise of why PSYCH is doing a
musical is thin. Yes, Yang demands that Shawn sing for her, but before
that, the characters have already been crooning away, so it’s not just
at Yang’s behest that the songs pour forth. Unlike Scrubs, which
featured a patient who imagined her doctors singing, or Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, where a demon cursed the cast to speak melodically, or
Grey’s Anatomy, which had a story of hallucinations (all three terrific
efforts), “Psych the Musical” is not so well thought out.

However, that’s kind of par for PSYCH. I
love the series and all its references to pop culture, but it’s always
been a series that doesn’t go deep. It’s much more focused on being
funny than developing characters, and even though some wonderful arcs
have snuck in, they are not the mission, making the show more enjoyable
than high-quality. Believability has been stretched before to match a
genre, so it’s in keeping with the usual tone that it happens again
here.

“Psych the Musical” concerns a pretty
typical case. While the run-time is two hours (including commercials),
which allows space for musical breaks, the story itself is only an
hour’s worth of mystery. The clues are typical, at best, and nothing
particularly monumental happens. One wishes, especially with the
inclusion of Yang and Mary, the writers had stretched themselves a
little further, but oh, well, too late now.

The music itself is not bad. It’s campy
and not particularly original, but that’s kind of the charm PSYCH seems
to be going for. Although it was released that sixteen numbers were
produced, many are repeats of an already-used tune, just with different
lyrics. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just an observation that
there truly isn’t as much variety as one might think.

Roday proves to be a more than capable
singer, as does Dule Hill (Gus), who is light on his feet, as well,
leading to a great, big opening. Gus also gets the finale to himself,
which is a bit understated for my taste, not ending nearly as big as the
episode starts. Lassiter (Timothy Omundson) is good on the base lines,
and his harmonious sparring with Sharn are among the best moments of
“Psych the Musical.” Juliet (Maggie Lawson) doesn’t seem particularly
talented in this arena, but does a passable job when needed, and Vick’s
(Kirsten Nelson) solo is brief, but effective. Woody (Kurt Fuller) is
fantastic in his simple piece.

Henry (Corbin Bernsen) absolutely
refuses to participate, which is in keeping with his character, so it
works. Buzz (Sage Brocklebank) seems like he would really like to join
in, but Lassie shuts him down repeatedly, again something that is
appropriate for the part.

Z only has one number, which is
disappointing, given Rapp’s resume. I understand the focus is on the
main players, but when one casts a guest star of this pedigree for a
musical, one should use him much more than PSYCH does. Even worse, Barry
Bostwick (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) doesn’t get to sing at all. If
that’s how “Psych the Musical” wants to use its guest stars, fine, but
don’t bring in people viewers expect to hear if they’re going to be
wasted.

Overall, I found “Psych the Musical” a
middling effort. I was entertained, but wasn’t left desiring to download
the music or listen to the songs again, as I have been after other
shows’ attempts. I love musicals in general, so it’s a bit sad. But, the
style of this installment is consistent with the rest of PSYCH, so on
that count, it is decent.